


keeping quiet

by anotherplaceintime (marvelleous)



Series: snapshots [5]
Category: Outlander (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:35:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27114097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelleous/pseuds/anotherplaceintime
Summary: “Is she smiling?” Jamie whispers, his lips barely brushing the shell of Claire’s ear as he speaks.“Just like her father.”Jamie and Claire spend a night with their newborn daughter.
Relationships: Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser
Series: snapshots [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1785904
Comments: 30
Kudos: 142





	keeping quiet

When Claire wakes up for the sixth time - not that she’s counting - that night, she instinctively reaches out towards the other side of the bed and frowns when she finds it empty. Cracking one eye open, she sees that the covers have been thrown back, but the sheets are very much still warm beneath her hand. With a low groan, she forces herself to sit up, her weary body protesting each movement. Logically, she’s well aware that she’s pretty much completely healed up and that she certainly feels better today than the day before, but the unending ache throughout her entire being convinces her otherwise.

She scans the still-dark room, barely making out the digital clock on the nightstand that proclaims it is half-past-three in the morning. The door has been left open and there’s light streaming in from the hallway, but even as she strains to hear any signs of movement, she’s met with complete silence. 

Frowning, she eases herself out of bed, reaching for the robe she had discarded over the back of a chair and slips it on as she moves out of the bedroom and into the hall. The wooden floorboards are cool beneath her feet, and she tries her best to be quiet and dodge the area right by the guest bathroom that has been proven to emit the loudest of creaks when stepped on. 

When she reaches the room that had, up until the beginning of the year, functioned as her home office, she is not surprised by the sight which greets her. Jamie, hunched over their daughter’s crib, once again keeping watch over her, as he vowed to do from the very beginning. The slivers of moonlight that have made it past the gauzy curtains form lines across his bare back; his skin seems to glow, like a pearl, found by light for the first time after decades in the deepest sea. Watching him like this brings forth a different ache; her skin flushes and she unconsciously squeezes her legs together, wincing at the flare of pain in the lower half of her body.

_Damn._

Whatever desires she may have, she is not quite physically ready for yet, and if their little miracle weren’t so darn cute, she might be a little more mad about it. 

She raises one hand, fluffs up her messier-than-usual hair, and steps into the room, shaking her head when Jamie doesn’t even sense her presence, so thoroughly absorbed with watching their daughter sleep. It’s impossible not to smile at the sight, and Claire tiptoes into the room, moving until she is right beside him before speaking. 

“What are you doing?”

She has to clamp a hand over her own mouth to stifle the laughter when he almost leaps a foot into the air, whirling around to face her with a look of horror on his face and a hand clutching at his chest. All this is done in complete silence, and she can’t help but admire his restraint, evidently wanting to avoid disturbing their daughter’s slumber at all costs. 

“Christ Sassenach, yer’re as quiet as a wee mouse. Ye almost gave me a heart attack,” he whispers, his tone and expression very much accusatory. She can’t stop giggling at her own antics, even as he opens his arms and pulls her against him, pressing a kiss on her forehead before resting his chin on the top of her head. His skin is like fire even in the chilly air of the night, and being held by him somehow eases all the pain, her aches melting away until all she can feel is comfort. 

Between the two of them, Jamie has always been more vocal in his declarations of love, but right here, right now, she can _feel_ it. 

In his embrace, holding her so securely yet reverently, not wanting to hurt her. 

In his voice, quietly whispering endearments, muffled by her curls.

In his heartbeat, steady beneath her cheek, perfectly in time with her own. 

She wants to tell him that she loves him, but knows that he can feel it too, the way she leans into his touch, leaving no distance between them, as if their bodies are melting into one. So instead, she turns in his arms, resting with her back against his chest, and looks down at Faith, who is squirming in her sleep. 

“Did she wake you?” she murmurs, turning her head slightly and wrinkling her nose until he presses a kiss to the tip. Jamie had always been a light sleeper; she’d never been able to leave the bed without waking him, though he claimed that was because he couldn’t sleep without her in his arms. Each time Faith woke from a nap, he was the one who heard her quiet grunts of displeasure, racing into the nursery to calm her and see to her needs. It was one of the reasons they let her sleep in a separate room so early on, because Jamie was always up and ready to attend to her, whether it be changing a dirty nappy, or just holding her, rocking her in his arms until she quietened once more. If it was food on her mind, then she would be brought into their bedroom and Jamie would very apologetically wake Claire so she could feed. 

It made her feel a little like a human milk machine at times. 

“Nay, Sassenach. I just wanted to watch her for a bit, is all.”

He reaches past her, resting one large hand over their daughter’s belly, stroking her clenched fist with his thumb. They both grin when she moves to throw one arm over her head, scrunching up her entire face in a half-yawn, before stilling once more, the corners of her mouth tilted upwards.

“Is she smiling?” Jamie whispers, his lips barely brushing the shell of Claire’s ear as he speaks. 

“Just like her father.” 

She feels a slight change in the atmosphere, but it doesn’t hit her until a tear drips down onto her neck, running down her clavicle and then disappearing into the fabric of her nightgown. While Faith’s hair had been tinged with auburn when she was born, it had already begun to darken, and Jamie was very much convinced that her eyes would also slowly change to match Claire’s own. He adored that their daughter resembled her so closely, but she knew that he wanted to see parts of himself as well, and whenever she pointed them out, it made him rather emotional. 

“Are you alright?” she asks him, though they’re both well aware that he’s more than fine.

“Tis just allergies,” he sniffles, and she smiles, reaching for his other hand and holding it over her chest, letting him feel her heartbeat. She doesn’t bother pointing out that it’s late autumn and that he doesn’t have allergies to begin with, just letting him sob quietly into her hair, resolving to finally wash it in the morning. Or let him wash it, if he was willing to leave Faith unattended for that long. 

They stay there for a bit, enjoying the quiet, and the most comforting sight in the world.

“We should probably get some sleep. I’m sure she’ll want to be fed soon enough,” she says after another stretch of time, and though he’s very much reluctant, Jamie follows her back to their bedroom, turning off the hall lights on the way but leaving the door open. 

They crawl into bed together and within minutes he’s fast asleep, snoring lightly, one arm thrown over his head, lips curved into a smile. She watches him for a moment, yawns, and then tucks herself into his side, grinning when she feels his arm wrap around her shoulder. Her last thought before she drifts off is an image of their little family, her watching on as Jamie cradles little Faith in his arms. She wonders if they dream of her too, wonders if the sight of the three of them together is what makes them so happy, even in slumber. 

  
  



End file.
